Established | 1975 [1] |
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Location | Darlington, County Durham, England |
Coordinates | 54°32′10″N1°33′18″W / 54.536°N 1.555°W |
Type | Railway museum |
Curator | Leona White-Hannant [2] |
Website | https://www.head-of-steam.co.uk |
Head of Steam, formerly known as the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, is a railway museum located on the 1825 route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which was the world's first steam-powered passenger railway. It is based inside the station building at the North Road railway station. Its exhibits are devoted to the area formerly served by the North Eastern Railway with a particular focus on the Stockton & Darlington Railway and the railway industry of Darlington. [3] [4] In 2022, plans were submitted to expand the museum as part of the Railway Heritage Quarter. [5] In December 2023, the museum temporarily closed its doors to undergo a £35 million redevelopment.
In October 2023, Darlington's Rail Heritage Quarter was renamed Hopetown Darlington, celebrating the rich rail heritage of this area of Darlington which is known as Hopetown due to the location of the historic Hopetown Carriage Works and Hope Town Foundry. [6]
Hopetown Darlington is a 7.5 acre site encompassing the former Head of Steam (now renamed North Road Station Museum), an exhibition hall for blockbuster exhibitions, a 4D virtual reality time travel ride, an adventure playpark, a café, shop, and events field for festivals and events, as well as onsite partners including the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, NELPG, and Darlington Railway Preservation Society. Hopetown Darlington opens to the public in summer 2024.
Prior to 2021, the museum currently had five locomotives on display. Two were owned by the museum, while three were on long-term loan from the National Railway Museum. In 2021, Locomotion No. 1 moved to Locomotion Museum in Shildon.
Number & Name | Year | Description | Livery | History | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Locomotion No. 1 | 1975 | Replica S&DR 0-4-0 | N/A | Locomotion No. 1 was built by George Stephenson for the world's first public steam-worked passenger railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It was responsible for hauling the first train on the line on 27 September 1825. The original was displayed in the museum between 1975 and 2021. It was moved to Shildon in that year. [7] A 1975-built replica, previously based at Beamish Museum, has now replaced it in the museum and it is intended for this replica to be restored to working order in time for the 200th anniversary of the S&DR in 2025. [8] [9] | |
No. 25 Derwent | 1845 | S&DR 0-6-0 | Green | No. 25 Derwent was designed by Timothy Hackworth and built by William and Alfred Kitching for use on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It spent many years on display with Locomotion No. 1 at Darlington Bank Top station before being put on display in the museum. [10] | |
No. 1463 | 1885 | NER 1463 (LNER E5) 2-4-0 | NER Apple Green | This engine was designed by Henry Tennant and Thomas W. Worsdell for use on express trains. It spent a large portion of its preserved career on display in the original York Railway Museum. | |
No. 901 | 1919 | NER T3 (LNER Q7) 0-8-0 | LNER Black | Designed by Sir Vincent Raven for use on heavy freight trains. In the 1980s, it was loaned to the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group which restored it to working order. It then spent several years working on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway before its withdrawal. It was put on display in the museum during its refurbishment in 2008. | |
No. D6898 | 1964 | BR Class 37 Co-Co | BR Green | No. D6898 (TOPS 37198) was designed by English Electric and built at their Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns works in Darlington. It was the final locomotive built at the works before its closure. It was withdrawn from service in 1999 and preserved before being resold to Network Rail in 2008. After being used as a spares donor for other class members, it was donated to the museum in August 2021. [11] |
The museum holds a large model of the Stockton & Darlington Railway which can be seen in the images below.
Darlington is a market and industrial town in County Durham, England. It is the main administrative centre of the unitary authority Borough of Darlington. The borough is a constituent member of the devolved Tees Valley area.
Timothy Hackworth was an English steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
The National Railway Museum (NRM) is a museum in York, England, forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant railway vehicles such as Mallard, Stirling Single, Duchess of Hamilton and a Japanese bullet train. In addition, the National Railway Museum holds a diverse collection of other objects, from a household recipe book used in George Stephenson's house to film showing a "never-stop railway" developed for the British Empire Exhibition. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darlington and Stockton in County Durham, and was officially opened on 27 September 1825. The movement of coal to ships rapidly became a lucrative business, and the line was soon extended to a new port at Middlesbrough. While coal waggons were hauled by steam locomotives from the start, passengers were carried in coaches drawn by horses until carriages hauled by steam locomotives were introduced in 1833.
Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first station, built in 1825, and locomotive works on the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Edward Pease, a woollen manufacturer from Darlington, England, was the main promoter of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which opened in 1825. He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Railways".
Locomotion, previously known as Locomotion the National Railway Museum at Shildon, is a railway museum in Shildon, County Durham, England. The museum was renamed in 2017 when it became part of the Science Museum Group.
Locomotion No. 1 is an early steam locomotive that was built in 1825 by the pioneering railway engineers George and Robert Stephenson at their manufacturing firm, Robert Stephenson and Company. It became the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger-carrying train on a public railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR).
Darlington Works was established in 1863 by the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the town of Darlington in the north east of England. The main part of the works, the North Road Shops was located on the northeast side of the Stockton and Darlington Railway
Shildon is a railway station serving the town of Shildon in County Durham, England on the Tees Valley Line, between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington. The station, situated 9 miles 8 chains (14.6 km) north-west of Darlington, It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.
North Road is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington. The station, situated 1 mile 23 chains (2.1 km) north-west of Darlington, serves the market town of Darlington in County Durham, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.
Eaglescliffe is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington. The station, situated 8 miles 63 chains east of Darlington, serves the village of Eaglescliffe, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.
The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is a Darlington, England based charitable trust formed in 1990 for the primary purpose of completing the next stage of the locomotive heritage movement, the building of a new steam locomotive from scratch. This project became the construction of 60163 Tornado, carried out by Locomotive Construction Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the A1 Trust. After over 15 years of fundraising and construction, Tornado steamed for the first time in January 2008.
Hopetown Carriage Works, also known as the Stockton and Darlington Railway Carriage Works, was a carriage works of the Stockton and Darlington Railway built in 1853 in Hopetown, near Darlington, County Durham, England.
Tees Marshalling Yard is a railway marshalling yard, used to separate railway wagons, located near Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, Northern England.
The Hetton Colliery Lyon or Lyons is an early British steam locomotive that still survives in preservation. It is remarkable for having continued working into the early 20th century.
Anthony Coulls is a British museum curator and historian. He is the Senior Curator of Rail Transport and Technology at the National Railway Museum, the author of several books on railway and industrial history, and is active in the steam heritage movement.
Beamish Museum contains much of transport interest, and the size of its site makes good internal transportation for visitors and staff purposes a necessity.
The Skerne Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Skerne in Darlington, County Durham. Built in 1825 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, it carried the first train on the opening day, 27 September 1825. It is still in use, being the oldest railway bridge in continuous use in the world. It is a Grade I listed building.